A tale of two A-wings.....

[Grendels]

I am jumping on board the A-wing frenzy here at SMA.

We have Fubar's build:

http://www.scalemodeladdict.com/forum/index.php/topic,4301.0.html

and Jamaicanmodels69's build: http://www.scalemodeladdict.com/forum/index.php/topic,2769.0.html

So I said to myself, why not add a couple more?

With special guest star: Thunderpaws.....

My next build...

I hope you enjoy....

 

[fubar]

Re: A pair of A-wings...

Awesome stuff mate, welcome to the A-Wing club. lol

I'm expecting this to be a wicked build and look forwards to it. I wish kits like that were available to buy as models that size really apeal to me and look amazing when nicely detailed.

One question, is it styrene or resin?

Good luck.

TTFN Matt

 

[Igard]

Re: A pair of A-wings...

Alright!! Looking forward to this one.

And, way to go Jamaicanmodels! You're baby is in safe hands here.

 

[Jamaicanmodels69]

Re: A pair of A-wings...

Great review G! Yes your correct the Hasbro toy was
used to make the masters, but I cut it up so bad to make
the hull pattern i didn't have anything left! LOL The small
snap kit is right around 2x smaller than the Hasbro toy or so.
When you mark your panel lines you want to multiply by 2
in regards to length and spacing of them that will go for most
other things your doing with it.

Fubar.....No it's plastic not resin

 

[Grendels]

Re: A pair of A-wings...

Great review G! Yes your correct the Hasbro toy was
used to make the masters, but I cut it up so bad to make
the hull pattern i didn't have anything left! LOL The small
snap kit is right around 2x smaller than the Hasbro toy or so.
When you mark your panel lines you want to multiply by 2
in regards to length and spacing of them that will go for most
other things your doing with it.

Fubar.....No it's plastic not resin

Thank you for the hint on the scale. I think the hardest part will be the center body channel. Getting everything cut out correctly and aligned right. I am not too worried about the engines, or the cockpit.

The fun part will be detailing and scribing....

And thank you for sending me this kit!

 

[noc5659]

Re: A pair of A-wings...

The A-wing is one of my all time favorite sci fi models. Like you I built those MPC kits years ago, glad to see you building these.

 

[NecronautDrummer]

Re: A pair of A-wings...

Rather than cut out the centre channel, could you build up the surrounding 'wing' areas instead? I see a lot of Evergreen sheet in the box, ripe for the task!

 

[Quaralane]

Re: A pair of A-wings...

Definitely looks like it should be a challenge for you, John.
but I know you're up to it

 

[Solander]

Re: A pair of A-wings...

This is a very nice pair of kits, G! Looking forward to see 'em built
And. Wow! 3 a-wing builds are currently running here at SMA. Way so cool! I think, I'll try to finish myAAT and join you with another amt's a-wing asap! ;D

 

[Grendels]

Re: A pair of A-wings...

Thanks Noc5659. I will try to do justice to both of them!

Rather than cut out the centre channel, could you build up the surrounding 'wing' areas instead? I see a lot of Evergreen sheet in the box, ripe for the task!

I could do that, but then it wouldn't be in scale with the actual filming model. I am pretty sure that the cross section thickness is correct. So if I build up the surrounding areas, it won't look right.

Definitely looks like it should be a challenge for you, John.
but I know you're up to it

Thanks I will try to hold up to your expectation. I am pretty sure I can, it will be fun trying!

This is a very nice pair of kits, G! Looking forward to see 'em built
And. Wow! 3 a-wing builds are currently running here at SMA. Way so cool! I think, I'll try to finish myAAT and join you with another amt's a-wing asap! ;D

Sounds good! Kind of a mini group build going....

 

[cobraleader]

Re: A pair of A-wings...

 

[JohnSimmons]

Re: A pair of A-wings...

Looking forward to this one Grendels!

 

[Grendels]

Hello all, I wanted to post some progress on this, so I am going to do a photo essay. My usual video will appear very soon. So for this build, I am going to mix photos and video!

The first thing I did was spend some time looking for reference material. Here are a few good links, the first one is outstanding:

http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=15969

Jamaicanmodels69 provided this link, I have only glanced at it, but it looks promising!

http://www.therpf.com/f10/studio-scale-wing-finished-last-74549/

The next one got me started on a long internal debate, more on this later:

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/starwars/smith_sw.htm

The A-wing photos are further down on the page.

What got me started was the photos of the rear of the studio model provided by Lucasfilms:



The engines appear to be warm white in color. But most of the model builds I have seen are amber. So I spent quite a bit of time trying to resolve this on the net. Comments are welcome! Let me know what you all think about this. Amber or Warm White. I am also going to post that question on the YouTube video when it comes up.

Up first is the snap kit:

The first photo shows one of the engine cans:



She is just cleaned up and ready to be put together.

The next photo shows the rear of the engine cans. I am going to light her up, and the video will detail that out much better later this week. The LED's are 3mm and I drilled out 9/64 inch holes for the LED's. That is about 2.98 MM. Which fit the LED's perfectly as shown here:





The LED's for the snap kit are amber. I didn't have any 3mm warm whites on hand, and I don't want to delay this build any longer. So I went ahead and used amber LED's. I have an order coming in from China soon, so I will have warm whites, but not in time for this build.

The reason is that I am using the snap kit as a guide for the larger version. I want the engine cans done on the snap kit, then I can work on the larger version.

 

[Igard]

Nice work Grendels!

Tricky one with those engine lights. I'd agree that they're closer to warm white than amber.

Here are a couple of rear shots directly from the movie...



[attachment deleted by admin]

 

[schweinhund227]

Going all out !!! Nice to see you working on a Star Wars Kit !

Keep up the good work....

I have been on the look out for an A wing !!! for some time...

better keep my eyes open on Ebay....

Those LED's look tinny ! or is the Ship tinny as well ?


Later!

 

[Grendels]

Igard: Thank you, that is not an amber color, more warm white. So it looks like the larger one will get warm white.

Norm: The little one is 1/55 scale, Michael told me that the one he sent me is about twice the size, so it is probably close to 1/23 I will be able to calculate the exact scale later tonight and I will post an update to it then.

The snap kit is pretty faithful to the original studio model. Speaking of which, if you really want to know anything about the studio model, go read the link that Micheal sent me. It is a study is scratch building and what parts were used on the studio model. I easily lost an hour last night reading it.

 

[Grendels]

Here is another short update!

As I sat down to work tonight, someone got jealous and stopped me:



After removing the road block I got to work. I glued the LED's to the engine end caps with five minute epoxy:



Then a short test on the power supply to make sure everything was working right:



Then glued them together:



A test run to make sure that they are still working:



And they are. Now comes the fun part. I have to take these parts:



And get them to look like the photo right before them. The video will explain it better when I get it edited together this weekend, probably on Sunday. But for now, I am going to start here:



And get the panel lines scribed in.

I also did a bit of math tonight and found that Micheal's A-wing is 1/28th scale. Does anyone know of any figures in that scale? Preferably Ma. K. or aircraft. She will need a pilot!

 

[schweinhund227]

I want one ! The cat I mean, what is it? Not a tabby? Too big for that!

Awesome !

 

[Grendels]

I want one ! The cat I mean, what is it? Not a tabby? Too big for that!

Awesome !

Norm: He is a 7 month old Maine Coon kitten, named Thunderpaws. Yes he is a kitten and weights in at about 12 lbs. He will put on weight until he is near a year and a half old. I expect him to come out at near 18 to 20 lbs when done. My other Maine Coon is a runt at 16 lbs.

Here is a photo of Tomodachi and Thunderpaws:



The cat on top is Tomodachi, who is three years old (16 lbs), and the one on the bottom is Thunderpaws who is 7 months old. Both are Maine Coons.

Sorry the photo is a bit twisted, the two of them don't want to sit together very long, and I had to take the photo very fast. If not I would get this sort of photo:



Sorry the photo is blurry, I had the flash turned off. They are wrestling, not fighting.

These two are best buds and do nothing but play all day long.

 

[CTspeedshop]

Great work so far Grendels!!! Gonna be fun following this thread. It's always a blast building a kit that we remember from childhood. I'm sure both will look brilliant when completed.